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Battlestar Galactica is Bigpoint's 'best ever' game launch

Game based on SyFy franchise has "bigger potential" than any other of company's titles

The recent open beta launch of Battlestar Galactica has proven to be the best ever start for one of Bigpoint's games, the company has revealed - and likely the biggest potential revenue-earner as well.

That's according to Nils-Holger Henning, Bigpoint's CCO, who told GamesIndustry.biz that the title is set to become one of the company's next blockbusters, with potential revenues of greater than €1 million per month.

"Well, to talk directly, it's the best start we've ever had with a game in Bigpoint's history - and not because we've been putting so much marketing behind it, but because the community has been driving it," he explained. "They've been so interested in the brand and what's going to happen with the game.

It's the best start we've ever had with a game in Bigpoint's history - and not because we've been putting so much marketing behind it

Nils-Holger Henning, Bigpoint

He went on to reveal that the company originally planned to launch the open beta around Christmas, but postponed it until March to tidy up some balancing issues.

"The feedback we've had, the activity inside of the game - from the user behaviour - shows us that we're building one of the next blockbusters in Bigpoint's portfolio," he said. "We think it has a bigger potential than every other game in our portfolio, taken individually."

Henning also described some of the challenges that Bigpoint has worked through during production of the game, based on the hugely popular SyFy series which ended a few years ago.

"I think everything that happens with Battlestar is different to anything we've done before, which is a challenge - but it's quite exciting," he said. "Compare it with Farmerama and we're talking to a totally different audience, because it's more like trying to attract everyone... we know how it all works.

"With Battlestar it was really working out who's interested in sci-fi, who's interested in the bigger gaming experience? It's not like the kind of gameplay where you play for five minutes and everything is clear - and you're asking yourself where the next challenge is.

"You really need a greater engagement of the players, and there are different ways to target them. So we've been working with games-related websites more, going for the hardcore gamers, and showing them what's now possible in the browser - do you like it?

"The feedback that we've had is quite nice, because people didn't know it was possible. They thought what was happening in the browser could only be something like Farmville or Cityville."

And while most licensors, he explained, were happy to take a back seat once the money from a deal such as this was delivered, the SyFy and Universal teams were very different.

"Another thing that helped with this license - and it's the first big license that we're developing on - is that the editor of the TV series, Ronald Moore, wanted to give his personal approval on every starship and every sequence," he explained.

"It took a bit of effort to get all of that happening, but it helped us to stay close to the series - and to create the kind of experience that a Battlestar fan is looking for."

The full interview with Nils-Holger Henning, in which he also talks about Bigpoint's current business position, its expansion into Brazil and why the company has built 3D into a free-to-play game, is available now.

BSG has a lot of fans. But how much time will it be untill they get bored with a game that offers imho nothing new to the MMO genre, user strength is driven only by the player advantage and skill has nearly no impact on the outcome of battles :)?

Does anyone remember Planetarion? I think it's still going, but I haven't played it in years. That is/was a fantastic text based online game though. You have to get in at the start of a game or other players have so much advantage over you, but it's worth looking at - each games last a month or so, if I recall correctly.

Planetarion is still going! but.. what's the relevance to this article Fran ?
I'm attempting to sign up to give this beta a review myself, though more for a look at the unity engine in action than anything...